


What the Lady Wants

by LNC



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Identity Reveal, Light Angst, Silly Songs with Ladybug Challenge, happy ending of course, hurt/comfort/friendship, post reveal pre relationship, silly songs with ladybug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-22
Updated: 2019-03-22
Packaged: 2019-11-27 22:41:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18199976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LNC/pseuds/LNC
Summary: Chat Noir takes some questionable advice.





	What the Lady Wants

**Author's Note:**

> This is my piece for my mid-work-day desperation brainchild Silly Songs with Ladybug. The song I was assigned was Macho Man by Village People. How I got to this story is anyone’s guess from there. Enjoy!

Chat Noir was acting… weird.

Well, _weirder_.

Ladybug was of the opinion that her partner had always been a little strange.  But now, over the last few weeks, it seemed like he had taken his… _quirkiness_ to new, un-yoyoable heights.

It started with his costume.

He’d arrived to patrol one night, hair combed, slicked back, and tamed in a very un-Chat manner. His bell, her secret obsession, was replaced with a golden zipper and his tail, his stupid, ridiculous, incredibly _useful_ tail was nowhere to be seen.

He might as well have shown up in a leather pantsuit for all the unfrilling Plagg had done.  Even his cat ears looked different standing out between his relentlessly product-ed hair.

She _hated_ it.

“What happened to you?” She blurted, tactless and horrified as her partner swaggered forward.  She felt a twinge of guilt when he halted mid-stride, clearly taken aback by her reaction. 

“You don’t like it my lady?”

“ _Like_ it?” She sputtered, only for Chat’s expression to pull her up short.

The boy seemed genuinely confused.  He was looking at her like _she_ was the crazy one even as he moved closer looking so much not like himself.

“Where’s your bell?  Or your _tail_?”

“I thought it was time for a change.  Don’t you think they’re a little childish?”

“Of course they are!  You’re _Chat Noir_.  Without them you might as well be… be… _Noir_.” She emphasized the word with a hysterical wave of her hands at his black suit. He raised an eyebrow at her, unimpressed.

“Is that the best you can do?”

“Is _that?_ ” She snapped.

Chat’s confusion gave way to irritation. “Ouch, LB.”

“I’m sorry,” She said, clearly not.  “But what on earth were you thinking?”

“Nothing, obviously,” He scowled, moving past her to hide his reddened cheeks.  “I think I’ll patrol on my own tonight.”

Later Tikki would scold Marinette for her vehement reaction.  If Chat wanted to change up his costume, as a good partner and _friend_ , she should support him.  She knew her kwami was right but privately she thought even Ladybug had her limits.

She was almost ashamed how relieved she was to see him back to his normal self during the next akuma attack.

But the weirdness didn’t stop there.

He was being… oddly formal with her.  At first she thought he was still angry over her admittedly poor reaction to his foray into fashion design, but when she confronted him about it he denied any such thing.

“It’s kind of nice to know you like my look, my lady.”

He winked at her then, a momentary relief, only for him to quickly retreat back behind a mask of politeness more frustrating than any secret identity could ever be.

Fortunately that phase only lasted a couple weeks before her partner’s naturally boisterous and cheeky personality proved too much for whatever start Chat had run into.  The first time he’d teased and crowded and jabbed her in weeks had her smiling and laughing and giving right back.

She was a little horrified to realize just how _giddy_ she felt to have Chat’s arm thrown over her shoulder again as he told her how they made a _purrfect_ couple.  Judging from how much her cheeks hurt as she smiled up at him Ladybug suspected she looked every inch the crush struck teen she knew she wasn’t.

“I missed you,” She said, looking away when their mutual smiles lingered too long and the air grew too heavy with _something_ for her to be comfortable.

She could see Chat’s puzzled frown even as she refused to look at him.  Instead of answering the question she knew was settling on his tongue she pulled away and threw back her yoyo, offering to race him to Montparnasse tower.

After all, if he wasn’t going to admit to any weirdness she didn’t want to bring it back by calling him out on it.

It was unfortunate, then, that they found each other out so soon after.

After all, even ladybugs had to run out of luck sometimes.

“Marinette?”

If she thought he was acting strange before his behavior after their reveal had _nothing_ on this new amalgamation of her partner and crush.

What’s more, instead of _talking_ to her, he seemed to disappear from her life entirely.  Well, as much as the boy _could_ disappear when he sat in front of her in school and fought supervillains with her on the side.

And honestly, _that_ hurt more than anything else.

“I don’t get it, Tikki.” She said, fighting back the increasingly familiar wave of despair she felt every time Adrien skirted around her invitations to hang out.  “I thought we were friends.”

“I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation!” Her kwami said, her attempts at reassurance growing weaker by the day.  Even _her_ endless patience was reaching its breaking point as she watched Marinette gradually pull into herself at her partner’s rejection.

“I’m still Ladybug.  I’m still _me_.”

“I know, Marinette.” Tikki said, wiggling her way beneath her charge’s elbows to nuzzle her cheek.  “You’re still wonderfully you.”

But even still, Adrien kept his distance.

Fencing lessons, outings with the Tsurugis, photoshoots, and runway walks filled every moment of his time.  In class, he was pleasant, as pleasant as he ever was, but he didn’t talk to her or even _look_ at her unless he had no other choice.  Even when Nino had wrangled him into plans, once he found out she and Alya were joining he always managed to slip out of them again. Patrols were suddenly scheduled for separate nights -- “So I have more time to study,” he said, as if that had ever kept him away before.

And through it all Marinette nursed a burgeoning sense of betrayal at her so-called partner’s abandonment.

So much for loving the girl under the mask.  He couldn’t even stand to be her _friend_.

It was nearing four weeks of his brush offs when the anger fully took hold.  It was week five when it finally unleashed.

And Jerkdrien, as Tikki had so gleefully taken to calling him, had the audacity to act like he’d done nothing wrong.

“Good morning, my lady,” He said, shocking her into dropping her books as he appeared behind her locker door.  She saw him wince when one landed on his foot and took some pleasure in hurting him, even just a little bit.

Adrien bent down to pick them up only for Marinette to snatch them out of his hands with a terse _thank you_ before slamming her locker shut and storming away.

Adrien, unfathomably, followed.

“Er, how are you today?” He said, catching up to her side and rubbing the back of his neck in a way she _used_ to know quite well.

“Fine.” She snapped, before running to catch up to Mylene and Juleka.  

And so it went for the rest of the day.  Adrien sought her out, trailed after her, engaged with, and attempted to tease until Marinette was nearly seething from emotional whiplash.

But it wasn’t until he showed up on _her_ new patrol that she lost it.

Because there Chat stood, ears back, tail in hand as he shifted from side to side, looking for all the world like a kicked kitten who had the audacity to ask

“Are you mad at me?”

 _Boy bye_.

Ladybug _lost_ it.

From the tips of his stupid unkempt hair to the shine of his brassy bell to the ends of his dumbass tail she ripped into her partner for all he was worth.

From his neglect to his avoidance to his cruel refusal to even _acknowledge_ her she dressed him down better than any mannequin.  Related all the nasty, horrible thoughts he’d made her feel about herself only to turn them right back around on him.

_Coward.  Hateful. Unworthy._

“And you know what’s the worst of it, Chat?” She sniffed, only to realize then that she was crying and, to her surprise, so was he.  “I thought we were better than that.  I thought _you_ were better than that.  But I guess who’s behind the mask really _does_ matter doesn’t it?”

If he had anything to say for himself, Ladybug didn’t know.  She didn’t give him the opportunity, instead turning spots to the wind for home.  Let Chat take care of Paris tonight- she was long since past due taking care of herself.

Tikki fussed over her for the next few hours as Marinette sobbed into her pillows.  The cat pillow, her usual tissue of choice, had been kicked to the floor in her anger and she hated that Chat managed to ruin even _that_ comfort for her.

It’s not until she heard her mother knocking at her trap door that she really became aware of her surroundings.  Voice hoarse, Marinette told her to go away.

“Sorry dear,” Sabine said, poking her head up with a concerned frown.  “But from the looks of your friend here this is urgent.”

Marinette barely had time to lift her head before Sabine disappeared and Adrien was replaced in her stead.

Somewhere in the back of her mind she registered how absolutely _awful_ he looked.  Or at least as awful as his model genes would allow.  But those thoughts were overpowered by her fury that he'd bothered to show up at all.

Through her front door, no less.

“What the hell are you doing here?” She snapped, scrambling out of her self pity nest. Nosy parents be damned, she was fully ready to throw hands when Adrien frantically shoved a stack of papers at her.

“Here.” He said before she could yell at him to _get out_.  “Just– here.”

Marinette scowled at him before shuffling through the wrinkled pages, confused.  In her hands, mid-stream advertisements and all, was a Wikihow article entitled _How to Impress a Girl_.

Adrien answered her unspoken question.

“I just… didn’t know what else to do.” He murmured, rubbing the back of his neck.  

Her eyes skipped past items like _dress to impress_ and _act polite_ to the section, bold and centered, **Get Out of the Friendzone**.

“Oh my god,” She murmured and Adrien flinched as the dawning sense of his own stupidity washed over her.

Marinette stumbled back to her chaise in disbelief, anger not so much _gone_ as dimmed.  Adrien took some measure of comfort from her lack of yelling and, expression pinched, ventured to take the seat beside her.

“I care about you so, so much.  And I ended up hurting you.  I’m sorry.”

She was still looking down at the papers he had so shamefully handed over.  Adrien’s eyes darted from her face, to the papers, and back before catching sight of Tikki glaring at him from Marinette’s rumpled bed.

He winced.

From everything he knew from Plagg and the little he’d gathered from Marinette, if _Tikki_ was angry then he’d really fucked up.

 _God_ , he wish he’d never seen that ridiculous article.

Beside him, Marinette shifted, saying nothing.

He panicked.

“I– I guess I was trying so hard to escape the “friendzone” I stopped being an actual friend.” Adrien rambled, frustrated.  “Which is so stupid.  I _love_ being your friend.”

“Yeah?”

Marinette’s voice was quiet and scratchy when she peeked up at him through her bangs. His heart flipped and not in the good way when he saw her eyes glistening with doubt and tears.

 _He_ did that to her.

“Yeah,” He murmured, hands itching to reach out and reassure her only to find he didn’t know if the touch would be welcome. “I’m sorry I have such a lousy way of showing it.”

When a tear escaped down her cheek though he stopped hesitating.  Marinette tensed, before her whole body seemed to collapse into him.  He didn't care about the tears dampening his shirt. Her arms wrapped around his waist, returning his hug, holding him so tight, tight, tightly.

“Stupid,” She sniffed.  “You’re so, so stupid.”

“I know, I’m sorry, I know,” He repeated, pushing her back just enough to see her face, his thumbs gently wiping at her tears.  “I just wanted you to notice me.  And then you were you and I just…”

Marinette shook her head.

“Stupid kitty,” She managed.  “All you ever had to be was yourself.”

Adrien smiled a small, not-smile. “I’m getting that now.”

“I’m still mad at you,” She hiccuped, face stern. Or as stern as a face can be when it’s wet with snot and tears.

She was beautiful.

“I know.”

“Good.” Marinette pulled him back to her then, tugging his arms around her waist.  “I needed you to know that this hug isn’t for your sake but for mine.”

He nodded, a little too eagerly under the circumstances, as he hugged her close.  “Understood. I will try not to enjoy it too much”

“Right,” She huffed, tucking her head beneath his chin sending his heart pounding despite his previous words.  If she felt it, which, how could she _not_ , his lady didn’t say anything.

Another reason to be grateful.

“For what it’s worth,” He whispered, finally, not wanting to break their uneasy truce but unable to keep this misunderstanding between them.  “I– I’m _so_ happy it’s you.”

Adrien thought maybe she wouldn’t respond, that maybe she had drifted off to sleep, when he felt the arms around his waist tighten in silent understanding.

“Welcome back, kitty.”

**Author's Note:**

> The Wiki article is real. Adrien's biggest regret is taking the Breaking Out of the Friendzone section literally.


End file.
